Pierz, Minnesota

Here's the plat map of Pierz in 1920...a considerably larger town than Buckman five miles to the south.  At the time, local folks thought of it in terms of South Pierz and North Pierz.  The divide was  St Josephs Catholic Church, there in the middle.

A little history here:  Pierz was one of the towns in Minnesota that was embroiled in a dispute over schools.  Benedictine nuns taught in many of these towns, but all children were welcome.  The local Catholic church supported the school, more or less, but it was a burden.  Of course, prayers were said during the school day, and there were crucifixes in every room....but did nuns and icons make it a Catholic school?  The state supported public schools, but not parochial schools.  The question, then, was fairness.  Pierz had a particularly bitter fight over the issue, and it raged for at least 50 years....including dynamite left on the priests' front porch at least twice--in 1902 and in 1951....

In this enlarged section--church property in 1920 included a parochial AND a public school building.  How did that happen?  Did two schools make the problem worse, or was it a solution?  Those Catholics who chose to send their kids to the public school were in trouble with the church because now they refused to help pay for the Catholic school.  Families were divided over the issue, and so was the town.  I don't know if this was the source of "North" and "South" Pierz, but at least figuratively, the church was definitely in the middle. 
  

8 October 1902 St Paul Globe:
 Deadly Feud At Pierz, Minn.

                                             

                  Brainerd Dispatch, June 1952